I'm pretty sure I've got a green hair algae issue. What if anything is the easiest way to get rid of it?

Cut down the number of hours I've got the light on? I'm currently running 2 20w life-glo bulbs for 12 hours and have pretty much cut down on dosing flourish comprehensive to once a week.

It is mainly isolated to the stems and leaves of the watersprite at the top of my water column. I removed about half of the watersprite last week that was "infected" with the algae in an attempt to get rid of it but it has returned.

Even if I reduce the light to resolve the problem, am I going to need to get rid of all the "infected" watersprite?

Any suggestions appreciated!

Boredomb

08-11-2011 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmyers0203
(Post 778563)

Hey y'all,

I'm pretty sure I've got a green hair algae issue. What if anything is the easiest way to get rid of it?

Cut down the number of hours I've got the light on? I'm currently running 2 20w life-glo bulbs for 12 hours and have pretty much cut down on dosing flourish comprehensive to once a week.

It is mainly isolated to the stems and leaves of the watersprite at the top of my water column. I removed about half of the watersprite last week that was "infected" with the algae in an attempt to get rid of it but it has returned.

Even if I reduce the light to resolve the problem, am I going to need to get rid of all the "infected" watersprite?

Any suggestions appreciated!

I would definitely cut back on the hours of lighting. Stay with just once a week with the fertz. I use to have the same problem on my rotala indica and my jungle val. I would cut off the infected parts if possible or another method I have read about is getting a bush and wrapping the hair algae around it and pulling it off. I don't know how well this works I just cut my plants back. I also reduced my hours of lights

Once you reduce the lighting and find the right amount of hours the algae should not spread anymore and the infected plants that the algae is on should die but I would still remove it. When I was trying to get rid of my problem I left a section of my rotala indica that it was on alone to see if it would grow anymore once I figured out it wasn't then I cut it off. It has yet to come back.

gmyers0203

08-11-2011 07:52 PM

Awesome, thanks for the advice! I will give that a shot as tonight is PWC night anyways!

Does 10 hours sound better or would you go even less?

Boredomb

08-11-2011 08:00 PM

You can try 10 hours and see what that does. I honestly don't know how much you should cut back as every tank is different. In my situation I was running my lights for 8 hours a day and I cut it back to 6 (Which is the lowest amount that you can go and the plants still be alright. Well thats my understanding anyways.). I am thinking I am going to go up to 7 and see what happens. IF after a week or so if you don't see any difference cut back the hours some more.

Byron

08-12-2011 01:01 PM

2 Attachment(s)

Just to ensure we are discussing the correct algae, here's a photo of hair algae. Reducing the light is key, as Boredomb said. Don't reduce nutrients (Flourish Comp) unless it is too much generally, as the plants won't be able to out-compete the algae without nutrients. Light is the key. Reduce the period and observe for a couple weeks; if the algae does not increase, fine, but if it still increases, reduce light further until you find the balance.

gmyers0203

08-12-2011 01:50 PM

Yep, that is exactly what I observed. I removed all my "infected" watersprite and reduced my timer to have lights on for 10 hrs. Ill see how that goes and go from there! Thanks y'all. Jet wanted to ensure I was taking the right coarse of action.Posted via Mobile Device

DKRST

08-30-2011 09:28 PM

When I started out using 2 T5HO tubes, I had green hair algae issues. I dropped to one tube and then I cut my light to 8 hours/day. You may want to cut back from the 10 hours to even 6 hours until the algae is under control and then increase slowly until you hit the "sweet spot" for length of light. The other thing that worked for me was using a toothbrush - I'd spin it and wrap up the algae on the plant leaves like cotton candy. It worked remarkably well to remove it.

You need any of your watersprite back - let me know :lol:

gmyers0203

08-30-2011 09:51 PM

Did any of your plants seem to be affected by cutting back that much? No worries on the watersprite... if I can get it growing as fast as it was after I fix the algae issue, ill be back in business in no time!

I will cut the lighting back even further... I haven't seen much change going to 10 hrsPosted via Mobile Device

Boredomb

08-30-2011 10:08 PM

I didn't notice any difference in my plant growth when I cut them back. They still grow like crazy LoL. If you still don't see any difference. I might try going down to 6hrs like DKRST mentioned. That way you can go back up and find that sweet spot. I am up to 7hrs on my mine have been for the last 2 weeks and I haven't noticed any hair aglae. Though I might after this week. I dunno will have to wait and see. I took all of my duckweed out of my tank. I couldn't stand that stuff. Though it is a great plant to have if you have too much nutrients as it will pull it out of the water fast. I just got tired of how it was looking and couldn't keep it under control to well. It spreads/grows super fast.

gmyers0203

08-31-2011 06:50 AM

I got some duckweed in my tank unintentionally... Not sure which plant it came in on either lol but I know what you mean. I figured out the whole reason my rooted plants were starting to look bad was because of the amount of duckweed, frogbit, and watersprite I had floating on top. That duckweed grows like.... well... a weed I suppose lol. I just cut it down to seven... I'm debating if I want to go down to six. I actually had it at 9, not 10 and I wasn't seeing much of a difference, though I think it was growing slower.